View source for The Deer Hunter

{{short description|1978 film directed by Michael Cimino}}
{{distinguish|deer hunting|The Man Who Killed the Deer {{!}} ''The Man Who Killed the Deer''|The Deer Stalker {{!}} ''The Deer Stalker''}}
{{other uses|Deer Hunter (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{infobox film
 | alt            = Robert De Niro, in character, points a pistol to his head. It is a black-and-white image with red highlighting his bandanna and the film credits below.
 | budget         = $15 million<ref name="BOM">{{cite web
| access-date     = October 17, 2022
| archive-date    = June 7, 2019
| archive-url     = https://web.archive.org/web/20190607032224/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=deerhunter.htm
| title           = ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978)
| url             = https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=deerhunter.htm
| url-status      = live
| work            = [[Box Office Mojo]]
}}</ref>
 | caption        = International theatrical release poster
 | cinematography = [[Vilmos Zsigmond]]
 | country        = United States
 | director       = [[Michael Cimino]]
 | distributor    = [[Universal Pictures]]<br>(United States and Canada)<br>EMI Films<br>(International)
 | editing        = [[Peter Zinner]]<br />Michael Cimino (uncredited)
 | image          = The Deer Hunter poster.jpg
 | music          = [[Stanley Myers]]
 | name           = The Deer Hunter
 | producer       = {{ubl|[[Barry Spikings]]|[[Michael Deeley]]|Michael Cimino|[[John Peverall]]}}
 | released       = {{film date|1978|12|08|[[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]]|1979|02|23|United States}}
 | runtime        = 184 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 183:31--><ref name="bbfc">{{cite web
| archive-date    = August 9, 2020
| archive-url     = https://web.archive.org/web/20200809022247/http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/deer-hunter-1970-4
| date            = November 15, 1978
| title           = ''THE DEER HUNTER'' (X)
| url             = https://bbfc.co.uk/releases/deer-hunter-1970-4
| url-status      = dead
| work            = [[British Board of Film Classification]]
}}</ref>
 | screenplay     = [[Deric Washburn]]<br />Michael Cimino (uncredited)
 | starring       = {{ubl|[[Robert De Niro]]|[[John Cazale]]|[[John Savage (actor)|John Savage]]|[[Meryl Streep]]|[[Christopher Walken]]}}
 | story          = Deric Washburn<br />Michael Cimino<br />[[Louis A. Garfinkle]]<br />[[Quinn K. Redeker]]
 | studio         = [[EMI Films]]
 | language       = English<br />Russian<br />Vietnamese<br />French
 | gross          = $49 million<ref name="BOM"/>
}}
'''''The Deer Hunter''''' is a 1978 American [[Epic film|epic]] [[War film|war]] [[drama (film and television)|drama]] film co-written and directed by [[Michael Cimino]] about a trio of Slavic-American<ref name=gMorris/><ref name=sshChong/><ref name=sBiel/> steelworkers whose lives are upended by fighting in the [[Vietnam War]]. The soldiers are played by [[Robert De Niro]], [[Christopher Walken]] and [[John Savage (actor)|John Savage]], with [[John Cazale]] (in his final role), [[Meryl Streep]] and [[George Dzundza]] in supporting roles. The story takes place in [[Clairton, Pennsylvania|Clairton]], Pennsylvania (a [[working-class]] town on the [[Monongahela River]] south of Pittsburgh) and in Vietnam.

The film is based in part on an unproduced screenplay called ''The Man Who Came to Play'' by [[Louis A. Garfinkle]] and [[Quinn K. Redeker]] about [[Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas]] and [[Russian roulette]]. Producer [[Michael Deeley]], who bought the script, hired Cimino, who, with [[Deric Washburn]], rewrote the script, taking the Russian roulette element and placing it in the Vietnam War. The film went over budget and over schedule, costing $15 million. Its production company [[EMI Films]] released it in other territories, while [[Universal Pictures]] handled its distribution in the United States and Canada.

''The Deer Hunter'' received acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise for Cimino's direction, the performances of its cast, its screenplay, realistic themes and tones, and [[cinematography]]. It was also successful at the box office, grossing $49 million. At the [[51st Academy Awards]], it was nominated for nine [[Academy Awards]], and won five: [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]], [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] (for Cimino), [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]] (for Walken), [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]] and [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]]. It is Meryl Streep's first Academy Award nomination (for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]).

''The Deer Hunter'' has been included on lists of the [[List of films considered the greatest|best films ever made]], including being named the 53rd-greatest American film of all time by the [[American Film Institute]] in 2007 in their [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)|10th Anniversary Edition]] of the [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies]] list. It was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] in 1996, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Stern|first1=Christopher|date=December 2, 1996|title=National Film Registry taps 25 more pix|url=https://variety.com/1996/scene/vpage/national-film-registry-taps-25-more-pix-1117466310/|access-date=October 17, 2022|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|language=en|archive-date=August 9, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809045257/https://variety.com/1996/scene/vpage/national-film-registry-taps-25-more-pix-1117466310/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=October 17, 2022|work=[[Library of Congress]]|archive-date=October 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031213743/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Plot==
Three friends in the Slavic-American<ref name=gMorris>George Morris, "Ready, Aim... Click", ''[[Texas Monthly]]'', Vol. 7, No. 3 (March 1979), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Gy4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA142 page 142]: "The film attempts to portray the effect of the Vietnam war on three Slavic American steelworkers from a small town in Pennsylvania who volunteer for the war."</ref>{{efn|The characters' precise ethnic affiliation (i.e. whether they are [[Russian Americans]],<ref name=sshChong>Sylvia Shin Huey Chong, [https://www.academia.edu/download/35326910/44.2chong.pdf "Restaging the War: 'The Deer Hunter' and the Primal Scene of Violence"]{{dead link|date=July 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} (PDF at [[Academia.edu]]), ''[[Cinema Journal]]'', Vol. 44, No. 2 (Winter, 2005), p. 103: "It is interesting to contrast Nguyen's narrative of failed assimilation with ''The Deer Hunter''<nowiki/>'s consolidation of white ethnics (Russian or Ukrainian Americans) into the American body politic through their participation in the Vietnam War."</ref><ref name=sBiel>Steven Biel, [https://brightlightsfilm.com/deer-hunter-debate-michael-cimino-1978-artistic-license-and-vietnam-war-remembrance/ "The Deer Hunter Debate"], ''[[Bright Lights Film Journal]]'' (ISSN 0147-4049), July 7, 2016: "The first sixty-eight minutes of the three-hour film establish their friendships within Clairton's traditional, patriotic Russian Orthodox community. (The characters' ethnicity isn't actually specified in the screenplay. Viewers have variously identified them as Russian, Slovak, Carpatho-Russian, Ukrainian, Rusyn, Polish, and Belarusian. Pittsburgh native Andy Warhol, who saw a preview of the film in New York in late November 1978, wrote in his diary that the movie's setting was 'where all my cousins are from' and 'was really Czechoslovakian.')"</ref> [[Ukrainian Americans]],<ref name=sshChong/><ref name=sBiel/> [[Rusyn Americans]],<ref name=sBiel/> etc. or any combination thereof) is left open to interpretation.}} community of [[Clairton, Pennsylvania]]{{emdash}}Mike Vronsky, Steven Pushkov and Nick Chevotarevich{{emdash}}work in a [[steel mill]] and hunt deer with their co-workers Stanley ("Stan") and Peter "Axel" Axelrod, and their bartender friend John Welsh. The three have enlisted for the [[Vietnam War]]. Steven is marrying Angela Ludhjduravic, who was secretly impregnated by another man. The withdrawn Mike and amiable Nick are close friends who live together and both love Linda, though she appears closer to Nick; he allows her to stay in their house while they are away to escape her abusive alcoholic father. After catching the bouquet at Steven and Angela's wedding, Linda accepts Nick's spontaneous marriage proposal. The three also meet a traumatized [[U.S. Army Special Forces|Green Beret]], who dismisses them. Nick implores Mike to promise that he return from Vietnam. Mike, Nick and their friends go on a final hunting trip where Mike kills a deer with "one shot", a feat Nick described as impossible.

In Vietnam, Mike, now a Green Beret himself, coincidentally crosses paths with Nick and Steven, who land in a village during an [[air assault]] mission. The three are soon imprisoned by the [[Viet Cong]] in a cage along a river and forced to participate in games of [[Russian roulette]] while the jailers wager. Steven fires his round into the ceiling and is forced into a cage with rats and previous victims of the jailers. To escape, Mike convinces their captors to increase the stakes by loading three bullets into the revolver rather than the standard one. When the next two chambers luckily fall on empty, Mike and Nick turn the gun on their captors, killing two and overpowering the others. Although Nick is wounded in the leg, they rescue Steven and escape.

The trio floats down the river on a felled tree trunk, but Nick and Steven are weak from their wounds. They are found by an American [[helicopter]]. Nick boards and is rescued, but Steven falls back into the river while trying to hold onto the helicopter skids, and Mike drops down to help him. Steven breaks both of his legs on the river’s rock bottom, so Mike carries him until they join refugees and a South Vietnamese Army convoy. All three of them end up in [[Saigon]].

Nick is treated at a U.S. [[military hospital]]. When released, now suffering from [[PTSD]], Nick wanders into a gambling den where people are playing Russian roulette. French businessman Julien Grinda forces him to come inside. Upset, Nick interrupts the game, pulling the trigger on a player and himself then assaulting the bouncer. Mike happens to be a spectator, but Nick hurriedly leaves with Julien, who decides to bankroll him in future games.

Mike returns home, but remains traumatized and avoids a welcome-home party. He learns that Nick has [[Desertion|deserted]], and Angela has slipped into near-catatonia following the birth of her child and return of Steven. On a hunting trip with his friends, Mike stops himself from shooting a deer and returns to the cabin, finding Stan cavalierly threatening Axel with a pistol. Mike takes it, inserts a single round, and triggers an empty chamber at Stan's head.

Mike repeatedly stays at a hotel instead of his home. Linda follows him each time, and they eventually consummate their relationship. The next day he visits Steven at a veterans' hospital, finding that both of his legs and one arm have been amputated, and he is subsequently refusing to come home. He shows Mike that he has been regularly receiving large sums of cash from Saigon. Mike realizes that Nick is the source of these payments as well as the father of Angela’s son, and convinces Steven to return to Angela.

Mike returns to Saigon, which is now in a state of chaos shortly before [[Fall of Saigon|its fall]], to find Nick. He finds Julien and persuades him to take him to another gambling den. There he locates Nick, who has become a professional in Russian roulette and fails to recognize Mike due to drug addiction. Mike attempts to bring Nick back to reason, but Nick maintains unspirited apathy, even spitting in Mike's face. Mike resorts to entering in a game with Nick; as he describes their hunting trips, Nick seems to recall Mike's "one shot" mantra about the deer and smiles before pulling the trigger, killing himself.

Mike, Steven, and their friends and loved ones attend Nick's funeral. As they convene at the bar for breakfast, John begins to sing "[[God Bless America]]" to lighten the mood, and all join in.

==Cast==
* [[Robert De Niro]] as Staff Sergeant Mikhail Vronsky ("Mike"). After [[Roy Scheider]] withdrew from the cast two weeks before the start of filming due to creative differences, producer Michael Deeley pursued De Niro, who was paid one million dollars for the role,<ref>{{YouTube|id=r8bXFO4UzCE|title=Robert de Niro : l'interview "1ère fois" de Thierry Ardisson / Archive INA}}, ''{{ill|Double Jeu|fr|Double Jeu (émission de télévision)}}'', [[France 2|Antenne 2]], May 2, 1992.</ref> in search of star power to sell a film with a "gruesome-sounding storyline and a barely known director".<ref name="Deeley-168">Deeley, p. 168</ref> De Niro later said, "I liked the script, and [Cimino] had done a lot of prep. I was impressed."<ref name="Biskind" /> He prepared by socializing with steelworkers in local bars and by visiting their homes.<ref name="Realizing" /> De Niro claimed that this was his most physically exhausting film, and that the sequence in which Mike visits Steven in the hospital was the most emotional scene of his career.<ref>De Niro, Robert (actor) (June 12, 2003). ''AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Robert De Niro''. [Television Production] American Film Institute.</ref>
* [[Christopher Walken]] as Corporal Nikanor Chevotarevich ("Nick"). His performance won an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for Best Supporting Actor.
* [[John Savage (actor)|John Savage]] as Corporal Steven Pushkov.
* [[John Cazale]] as Stanley ("Stan"/"Stosh"). All scenes involving Cazale, who had terminal [[cancer]], were filmed first. Because of his illness, the studio wanted to dismiss him, but Streep, with whom he was in a romantic relationship, and Cimino threatened to withdraw from the project if Cazale was released.<ref name=Parker-129/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/06/richard-shepard-talks-john-cazale-doc.html |title=Richard Shepard Talks John Cazale Doc, Plus The Trailer For 'I Knew It Was You' |date=June 1, 2010|work=The Playlist| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011184422/http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/06/richard-shepard-talks-john-cazale-doc.html |archive-date=October 11, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He was almost uninsurable, and according to Streep, De Niro paid for his insurance because he wanted Cazale in the film. This was Cazale's last film, as he died shortly after filming wrapped. He never saw the finished film.<ref name=Parker-129>Parker, p. 129</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/07/de-niro-saved-deer-hunter-paying-co-stars-medical-insurance/ |title=De Niro saved the Deer Hunter by paying for co-star's medical insurance when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=December 7, 2019 |access-date=December 13, 2019 |archive-date=December 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213052029/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/12/07/de-niro-saved-deer-hunter-paying-co-stars-medical-insurance/ |url-status=live |last1=Swerling |first1=Gabriella }}</ref>
* [[Meryl Streep]] as Linda. In the screenplay, Streep's role was negligible, but Cimino explained the role to her and suggested that she write her own lines.<ref name=Parker-128>Parker, p. 128</ref>
* [[George Dzundza]] as John Welsh.
* {{ill|Pierre Segui|fr}} as Julien Grinda.
* [[Shirley Stoler]] as Steven's mother.
* Chuck Aspegren<ref name="gi/CA">{{cite web |title=Chuck Aspegren |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/chuck-aspegren |website=[[Getty Images]] |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref><ref name="Ha/cA">{{cite web |last1=Addison |first1=Paul |title=Chuck Aspegren (Deceased), Hobart, IN Indiana |url=https://www.hobartalumni.org/class_profile.cfm?member_id=3788761 |website=Hobart Alumni .org |access-date=13 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529200421/https://www.hobartalumni.org/class_profile.cfm?member_id=3788761 |archive-date=May 29, 2024}}</ref> as Peter Axelrod ("Axel"). Aspegren was not an actor; he was the foreman at an East Chicago steel factory that was visited by De Niro and Cimino during [[pre-production]]. They were so impressed with him that they offered him the role. He was the second person to be cast in the film, after De Niro.<ref name=Realizing/>
* [[Rutanya Alda]] as Angela Ludhjduravic-Pushkov.
* [[Paul D'Amato (actor)|Paul D'Amato]] as Sergeant.
* [[Amy Wright]] as Bridesmaid.
* [[Joe Grifasi]] as Bandleader.
* John F. Buchmelter III as a bar patron. Buchmelter was a steel worker whom Cimino wanted to lend the film a sense of authenticity.
* Somsak Sengvilai as the Viet Cong referee. Casting local actors to play the stone-faced referee during the famous Russian-roulette scene proved troublesome, as many refused to authentically slap De Niro and Walken. When Sengvilai was cast, he was noted as holding a particular disdain toward Americans, and the slaps that he delivered in the scene were genuine.

Although Deeley was pleased with the revised script, he was still concerned with being able to sell the film. He later wrote, "We still had to get millions out of a major studio, as well as convince our markets around the world that they should buy it before it was finished. I needed someone with the caliber of Robert De Niro."<ref name=Deeley-167>Deeley, p. 167</ref> Deeley felt that De Niro was "the right age, apparently tough as hell, and immensely talented".<ref name=Deeley-168/>

De Niro, who knew many actors in New York, brought Streep and Cazale to the attention of Cimino and Deeley.<ref name=Deeley-170>Deeley, p. 170</ref> De Niro also accompanied Cimino to scout locations for the steel-mill sequence, and rehearsed with the actors to use the workshops as a bonding process.<ref name=Deeley-171/>

Each of the six principal male characters carried a photo in his back pocket depicting them all together as children to enhance the sense of camaraderie among them. Cimino instructed the [[Property master|props department]] to fashion complete [[Photo identification|photo IDs]] for each of them, including driver licenses and medical cards, to enhance each actor's sense of his character.<ref name=DirCommentary/>

==Production==
===Preproduction===
There has been considerable debate and controversy about how ''The Deer Hunter'' was initially developed and written.<ref name=Biskind/> Director and cowriter [[Michael Cimino]], writer [[Deric Washburn]] and producers [[Barry Spikings]] and [[Michael Deeley]] all have different versions of how the film came to be. <!-- This article has been carefully constructed to document the discrepancies between the stories of these four main players. [Should this sentence be included in the regular text? Please discuss on talk page] -->

====Development====
In 1968, record company [[EMI]] formed a new company, [[EMI Films]], which by the mid 70s came under the control of Barry Spikings and Deeley.<ref name=Biskind/><ref name="dee">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-moguls-michael-deeley-and-barry-spikings/|date=19 October 2025|access-date=19 October 2025|title=Forgotten British Moguls: Michael Deeley and Barry Spikings}}</ref>  Deeley purchased the first draft of a [[spec script]] called ''The Man Who Came to Play'', written by [[Louis A. Garfinkle]] and [[Quinn K. Redeker]], for $19,000.<ref name=Deeley-2/> It was about people who go to Las Vegas to play Russian roulette.<ref name=Biskind/> Deeley later wrote, "The screenplay had struck me as brilliant, but it wasn't complete. The trick would be to find a way to turn a very clever piece of writing into a practical, realizable film."<ref name=Deeley-163>Deeley, p. 163</ref> When the film was being planned during the mid-1970s, the Vietnam War was still a taboo subject with all [[Major film studio#1970s–1980s|major Hollywood studios]].<ref name=Deeley-2>Deeley, p. 2</ref> According to Deeley, the standard response was that "no American would want to see a picture about Vietnam".<ref name=Deeley-2/>

After consulting with various [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] agents, Deeley found Cimino<ref name=Deeley-163/> and was impressed by Cimino's television commercial work and his crime film ''[[Thunderbolt and Lightfoot]]'' (1974).<ref name=Deeley-163/><ref name=Deeley-164>Deeley, p. 164</ref> Cimino was confident that he could further develop the principal characters of ''The Man Who Came to Play'' without losing the essence of the original. According to Deeley, Cimino questioned the need for the Russian-roulette element of the script, but Redeker fervently fought to preserve it. Cimino and Deeley discussed the work that would be needed in the first part of the script, and Cimino believed that he could develop the stories of the main characters in the film's first twenty minutes.<ref name=Deeley-164/>

====Screenplay====
Cimino worked for six weeks with Deric Washburn on the script.<ref name=Realizing>''Realizing The Deer Hunter: An Interview with Michael Cimino''. Blue Underground. Interview on ''The Deer Hunter'' UK Region 2 DVD and the StudioCanal Blu-Ray. {{YouTube|DZwE30yr-Xw|First half of video}}</ref> Cimino and Washburn had previously collaborated with [[Steven Bochco]] on the screenplay for ''[[Silent Running]]'' (1972). According to producer Barry Spikings, Cimino said that he wanted to work with Washburn again.<ref name=Biskind/> According to Deeley, he heard from an office rumor that Washburn was contracted by Cimino to work on the script. "Whether Cimino hired Washburn as his sub-contractor or as a co-writer was constantly being obfuscated," wrote Deeley, "and there were some harsh words between them later on, or so I was told."<ref name=Deeley-164/>

'''Cimino's claim'''

According to Cimino, he would call Washburn while on the road scouting for locations and feed him notes on dialogue and story. After reviewing Washburn's draft, Cimino said, "I came back and read it and I just could not believe what I read. It was like it was written by somebody who was... mentally deranged." Cimino confronted Washburn at the [[Sunset Marquis Hotel|Sunset Marquis]] in LA about the draft, and Washburn supposedly replied that he could not take the pressure and had to go home. So Cimino fired Washburn. Cimino later claimed to have written the entire screenplay.<ref name=Realizing/> Washburn's response to Cimino's claim was, "It's all nonsense. It's lies. I didn't have a single drink the entire time I was working on the script."<ref name=Biskind/>

'''Washburn's claim'''

According to Washburn, he and Cimino spent three days together in Los Angeles at the Sunset Marquis hammering out the plot. The script eventually went through several drafts, evolving into a story with three distinct acts. Washburn did not interview any veterans to write ''The Deer Hunter'', nor did he do any research. "I had a month, that was it," he explained. "The clock was ticking. Write the fucking script! But all I had to do was watch TV. Those combat cameramen in Vietnam were out there in the field with the guys. I mean, they had stuff that you wouldn't dream of seeing about Iraq."

When Washburn was finished, he says, Cimino and Joann Carelli, the latter an associate producer on ''The Deer Hunter'' who went on to produce two more of Cimino's films, took him to dinner at a cheap restaurant near the [[Sunset Strip]]. He recalled, "We finished, and Joann looks at me across the table, and she says, 'Well, Deric, it's fuck-off time.' I was fired. It was a classic case: you get a dummy, get him to write the goddamn thing, tell him to go fuck himself, put your name on the thing, and he'll go away. I was so tired, I didn't care. I'd been working 20 hours a day for a month. I got on the plane the next day, and I went back to Manhattan and my carpenter job."<ref name="Biskind">{{cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/03/warmovies200803 |title=The Vietnam Oscars|work=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]| first=Peter|last=Biskind|date=February 19, 2008|access-date=October 17, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122211932/http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2008/03/warmovies200803 |archive-date=January 22, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

'''Deeley's reaction to the revised script'''

Deeley felt that the revised script, now called ''The Deer Hunter'', broke fresh ground for the project. The protagonist in the Redeker/Garfinkle script, Merle, was an individual who sustained a bad injury in [[Active duty|active service]] and was damaged psychologically by his violent experiences, but was nevertheless a tough character with strong nerves and guts. Cimino and Washburn's revised script distilled the three aspects of Merle's personality and separated them into three distinct characters. They became three old friends who grew up in the same small industrial town and worked in the same steel mill, and in due course, were drafted to serve in Vietnam.<ref name=Deeley-166>Deeley, p. 166</ref> In the original script, the roles of Merle (later renamed Mike) and Nick were reversed in the last half of the film. Nick returns home to Linda, while Mike remains in Vietnam, sends money home to help Steven, and meets his tragic fate at the Russian-roulette table.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/deer_hunter.html |title=The Deer Hunter script|website=DailyScript.com|first=Deric |last=Washburn|author-link=Deric Washburn|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504205811/http://dailyscript.com/scripts/deer_hunter.html |archive-date=May 4, 2009|url-status=dead }}</ref>

A [[Writers Guild of America, West|Writers' Guild]] arbitration process awarded Washburn sole "Screenplay by" credit.<ref name=Biskind/> Garfinkle and Redeker were given a shared "Story by" credit with Cimino and Washburn. Deeley felt that the story credits for Garfinkle and Redeker "did them less than justice".<ref name=Deeley-164/> Cimino contested the results of the arbitration. "In their Nazi wisdom," added Cimino, "[they] didn't give me the credit because I would be producer, director and writer."<ref name=Griffin/> All four writers—Cimino, Washburn, Garfinkle and Redeker—received an Oscar nomination for [[Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)|Best Original Screenplay]] for the film.<ref name=OscarSite/>

===Filming===
''The Deer Hunter'' began [[principal photography]] on June 20, 1977.<ref name=Biskind/> It was the first feature film depicting the Vietnam War to be filmed in [[Thailand]]. All scenes were [[Location shooting|shot on location]]. "There was discussion about shooting the film on a backlot, but the material demanded more realism," says Spikings.<ref name=Biskind/> The cast and crew watched large amounts of news footage from the war to ensure authenticity. The film was shot in six months. The scenes of Clairton, Pennsylvania, comprise footage that was shot in eight towns in three states: West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.<ref name="mL/Dh">{{cite web |title=The Deer Hunter (1978) |url=https://movie-locations.com/movies/d/Deer-Hunter.php |website=Movie Locations |access-date=13 September 2024 |quote=The town, however, is an amalgamation of eight separate locales. Three are in Pennsylvania...Clairton; McKeesport...and Pittsburgh. ...Weirton and Follansbee, in...West Virginia. And...in Ohio State: Steubenville and Mingo Junction...and Struthers...}}</ref><ref name=Biskind/> The film's initial budget was $8.5 million.<ref name=Deeley-171>Deeley, p. 171</ref>

Meryl Streep accepted the role of the "vague, stock girlfriend" to remain for the duration of filming with John Cazale, who had been diagnosed with lung cancer.{{sfn|Longworth|2013|pp=19-21}} De Niro had spotted Streep in the stage production of ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'' and suggested that she play his girlfriend Linda.{{sfn|Longworth|2013|p=21}} Meryl Streep wrote all of her lines.<ref name="fnn/MS77c">{{cite news |title=Meryl Streep Guest of honour at the opening ceremony of the 77th Festival de Cannes |url=https://floridanationalnews.com/blog/meryl-streep-guest-of-honour-at-the-opening-ceremony-of-the-77th-festival-de-cannes/ |access-date=13 September 2024 |work=FloridaNationalNews.com |date=17 May 2024}}</ref> Streep is said to have accepted the role to primarily be with Cazale.<ref name="9h/streep-gummer">{{cite news |title=A heartbreaking loss led Meryl Streep to Don Gummer |url=https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/meryl-streep-don-gummer-relationship-love-story/6c5e824b-f0bb-41db-bc70-ebb3b8b98f63 |access-date=13 September 2024 |work=honey.nine.com.au |date=22 October 2023 |language=en-AU}}</ref>

Before the beginning of principal photography, Deeley met with the film's appointed [[line producer]] [[Robert Relyea]], whom Deeley hired after meeting him on the set of ''[[Bullitt]]'' (1968) and being impressed with his experience. However, Relyea declined the job, refusing to disclose his reason.<ref name="Deeley-171" /> Deeley suspected that Relyea sensed in director Cimino something that would have made production difficult. As a result, Cimino was acting without the day-to-day supervision of a producer.<ref name="Deeley-172">Deeley, p. 172</ref>

Because Deeley was busy overseeing the production of [[Sam Peckinpah]]'s ''[[Convoy (1978 film)|Convoy]]'' (1978), he hired [[John Peverall]] to oversee Cimino's shoot. Peverall's expertise with budgeting and scheduling made him a natural successor to Relyea, and Peverall knew enough about the picture to be elevated to the status of producer. "John is a straightforward Cornishman who had worked his way up to become a production supervisor," wrote Deeley, "and we employed him as EMI's watchman on certain pictures."<ref name=Deeley-172/>

====The wedding scenes====
[[File:StTheodosius.jpg|right|upright|thumb|[[St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral]] in [[Cleveland, Ohio]], the site of the wedding scenes]]

The wedding scenes were filmed at historic [[St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral]] in the [[Tremont, Cleveland|Tremont]] neighborhood of [[Cleveland]], Ohio.<ref name="LL/dH">{{cite web |title=The Deer Hunter Locations |url=https://www.latlong.net/location/the-deer-hunter-locations-1537 |website=latlong.net |access-date=13 September 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Biskind/> They took five days to film. St. Theodosius's Father Stephen Kopestonsky was cast as the priest.<ref name=DirCommentary/> The reception scene was filmed at nearby [[Lemkos|Lemko]] Association<ref name="La/A"/> Hall. The amateur extras cast for the crowded wedding-dance sequences drank real liquor and beer.<ref name=Deeley-174/> The scenes were filmed in the summer, in 95&nbsp;°F (35&nbsp;°C) weather,<ref name="Wi/DHf">{{cite news |last1=Boyle |first1=Janet |title=Filming of The Deer Hunter: Theaters Pushing for 'Deer' Premiere |url=https://archive.wvculture.org/history///entertainment/deerhunter02.html |access-date=13 September 2024 |work=Wheeling Intelligencer |date=July 25, 1977 |via=archive.wvculture.org}}</ref> but were set in the fall.<ref name=DirCommentary/> To accomplish a fall look, individual leaves were removed from [[deciduous tree]]s.<ref name="Wi/DHf"/><ref name=Zsigmond>''Shooting The Deer Hunter: An interview with Vilmos Zsigmond''. Blue Underground. Interview with the cinematographer, located on ''The Deer Hunter'' UK Region 2 DVD and StudioCanal Blu-Ray. {{YouTube|ST-62ebgZi8|First half of video}}.</ref><ref name=Deeley-177/> [[Vilmos Zsigmond]] also had to desaturate the colors of the exterior shots, partly in camera and partly in laboratory processing.<ref name=Deeley-177/><ref name=Deeley-178>Deeley, p. 178</ref>

The production manager asked each of the extras who were portraying Russian immigrants to bring to the location a gift-wrapped box to double for wedding presents. The manager figured that if the extras did this, not only would the production save time and money, but the gifts would look more authentic. After the unit unwrapped and the extras disappeared, the crew discovered to their amusement that the boxes were not empty but filled with real presents, from china to silverware. "Who got to keep all these wonderful offerings," wrote Deeley, "is a mystery I never quite fathomed."<ref name=Deeley-174/>

Cimino originally claimed that the wedding scene would take up 21 minutes of screen time; in the end, it took 51 minutes. Deeley believes that Cimino always planned to make this prologue last for an hour, and that "the plan was to be advanced by stealth rather than straight dealing".<ref name=Deeley-173>Deeley, p. 173</ref>

At this point in the production, nearly halfway through principal photography, Cimino was already over budget, and producer Spikings could tell from the script that shooting the extended scene could sink the project.<ref name=Biskind/>

====The bar and the steel mill====
The bar was specially constructed in an empty storefront in [[Mingo Junction]], Ohio, for $25,000; it soon became an actual saloon for local steel-mill workers.<ref name=DirCommentary/> [[U.S. Steel]] allowed filming inside its Cleveland mill, including placing the actors around the furnace floor, after securing a $5 million insurance policy.<ref name=Parker-128/><ref name=DirCommentary/> Other filming took place in [[Pittsburgh]].<ref>{{cite news| title=City Lands Good Share of Movies| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V19cAAAAIBAJ&dq=sharon-stone%20pittsburgh&pg=1397%2C300980| agency=[[Associated Press]]| work=[[The Vindicator]]| location=Youngstown| date=December 10, 1995| page=B5| access-date=October 20, 2020| archive-date=February 25, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225012250/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=V19cAAAAIBAJ&dq=sharon-stone%20pittsburgh&pg=1397%2C300980| url-status=live}}</ref>

====Hunting the deer====
The first deer to be shot was depicted in a "gruesome close-up", although it was hit with only a [[Dart gun|tranquilizer dart]].<ref name=Deeley-174/><ref name=Deeley-173/> This was not a [[White-tailed deer|white-tailed buck]], which is native to Pennsylvania, but a [[red deer]] native to Eurasia. The [[stag]] that Michael lets escape is the same as the one used on TV commercials for [[The Hartford]].<ref name=Deeley-174>Deeley, p. 174</ref>

====Vietnam and the Russian roulette scenes====
The Viet Cong Russian-roulette scenes were shot with real [[rat]]s and [[mosquito]]es, as the three principals (De Niro, Walken and Savage) were tied up in [[bamboo]] cages erected along the [[Khwae Noi River|River Kwai]]. The woman who was given the task of casting extras in Thailand had much difficulty finding a local to play the vicious-looking individual who runs the game. The first hired actor was incapable of slapping De Niro in the face. The casting agent found a local Thai man, Somsak Sengvilai, who held a particular dislike of Americans, and so he was cast. De Niro suggested that Walken be slapped by one of the guards without any warning, and Walken's reaction was genuine. Producer Deeley has said that Cimino shot the brutal Viet Cong Russian-roulette scenes brilliantly and more efficiently than any other part of the film.<ref name=Deeley-174/><ref name=Deeley-175>Deeley, p. 175</ref>

De Niro and Savage performed their own stunts in the fall into the river, filming the {{convert|30|ft}} drop 15 times in two days. During the helicopter stunt, the skids got caught on the rope bridge as the helicopter ascended, threatening to seriously injure De Niro and Savage. The actors gestured and shouted to the crew in the helicopter to warn them. Footage of this is included in the film.<ref name=Savage>''Playing The Deer Hunter: An interview with John Savage''. Blue Underground. Interview with the actor Savage, located on the UK Region 2 DVD and StudioCanal Blu-Ray. {{YouTube|l1ovPVUa5HA|First half of video}}</ref>

According to Cimino, De Niro requested a live cartridge in the revolver for the scene in which he subjects John Cazale's character to an impromptu game of Russian roulette, to heighten the intensity of the situation. Cazale agreed without protest,<ref name=Realizing/> but obsessively rechecked the gun before each take to be sure that the live round was not in the next chamber.<ref name=DirCommentary>DVD commentary by director [[Michael Cimino]] and film critic [[F. X. Feeney]]. Included on ''The Deer Hunter'' UK region 2 DVD release and the StudioCanal Blu-ray.</ref>

Although appearing later in the film, the first scenes shot in Thailand were the hospital sequences between Walken and the military doctor. Deeley believed that this scene was "the spur that would earn him an Academy Award".<ref name=Deeley-176>Deeley, p. 176</ref>{{efn|A clip from the scene between Walken and the military doctor was shown on a ''[[Sneak Previews]]'' special "Oscar Preview for 1978," in which critics [[Gene Siskel]] and [[Roger Ebert]] correctly predicted that Walken would win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.<ref name=S&E-Oscar/>}}

In the final scene between Mike and Nick in the gambling den, Cimino had Walken and De Niro improvise in one take. His direction to his actors: "You put the gun to your head, Chris, you shoot, you fall over and Bobby cradles your head."<ref name=Deeley-177>Deeley, p. 177</ref>

====Filming locations====
'''Thailand'''

* [[Patpong]], [[Bangkok]], the area used to represent Saigon's red light district.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/7-movie-locations.htm |title=7 Movie Locations in Bangkok - Bangkok.com Magazine |publisher=Bangkok.com |access-date=October 17, 2016 |archive-date=October 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013072926/http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/7-movie-locations.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Amphoe Sai Yok|Sai Yok]], [[Kanchanaburi Province]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Nam |first=Suzanne |date=2012 |title=Moon Thailand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQkHTnTfup8C&q=sai+yok+in+the+deer+hunter&pg=PA320 |publisher=Avalon Travel |page=320 |isbn=9781598809695 }}{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[Mississippi Queen (bar)|Mississippi Queen]], [[go-go bar]] location used in the film.<ref>{{cite web|title=Secrets of Bangkok red light zone laid bare in new museum|author=Ehrlich, Richard S.|date=November 13, 2019|url=https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/patpong-museum-bangkok/index.html|publisher=[[CNN]]}}</ref>
* River Kwai, prison camp and initial Russian-roulette scene.<ref>{{cite web| title=The Deer Hunter film locations| url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/d/deerhunter.html| date=September 7, 2015| publisher=The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations| access-date=April 26, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110012704/http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/d/deerhunter.html| archive-date=November 10, 2013| url-status=dead}}</ref>

'''United States'''
[[File:Lemko Hall 7-10-11.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Lemko Hall]]
* [[St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral]], in the [[Tremont, Cleveland|Tremont]] neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. The name plaque is clearly visible in one scene.<ref name="autogenerated1978">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/st-theodosius-russian-orthodox-cathedral |title=ST. THEODOSIUS RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History |date=February 19, 2020 |publisher=[[Case Western Reserve University]] |access-date=October 19, 2022 |archive-date=August 18, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190818041759/https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/st-theodosius-russian-orthodox-cathedral |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Lemkos|Lemko]] Association<ref name="La/A">{{cite web |title=About Us |url=https://lemkoassociation.org/about-us/ |website=The Lemko Association |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref> Hall,<ref name="cH/Lh">{{cite web |last1=Rotman |first1=Michael |title=Lemko Hall |url=https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/325 |website=Cleveland Historical |access-date=13 September 2024}}</ref> Cleveland, Ohio. Also located in Tremont, the wedding banquet was filmed here. The name is clearly visible in one scene.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title=Lemko Hall| url=http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=LH1| encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History|publisher=[[Case Western Reserve University]] | date=May 24, 2002| access-date=April 26, 2012| archive-date=May 25, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525074635/http://ech.cwru.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=LH1| url-status=live}}</ref>
* U.S. Steel Central Furnaces in Cleveland, Ohio. Opening sequence steel mill scenes.<ref name="autogenerated1978"/>
* [[Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest]] and [[Nooksack Falls]] in the [[North Cascades]] range of [[Washington (state)|Washington]], deer hunting scenes.<ref>{{cite book |last=Krause |first=Mariella |date=2013 |title=Lonely Planet Pacific Northwest's Best Trips |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKt9BAAAQBAJ&q=nooksack+falls+the+deer+hunter&pg=PT119 |publisher=[[Lonely Planet]] |page=118 |isbn=978-1741798159 |access-date=October 20, 2020 |archive-date=April 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427013022/https://books.google.com/books?id=yKt9BAAAQBAJ&q=nooksack+falls+the+deer+hunter&pg=PT119 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/d/deerhunter.html |title=The Deer Hunter film locations (1978) |publisher=Movie-locations.com |access-date=October 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110012704/http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/d/deerhunter.html |archive-date=November 10, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Also [[Washington State Route 20|North Cascades Highway]] (SR 20), [[Diablo Lake]].
* [[Steubenville, Ohio|Steubenville]], Ohio, for some mill and neighborhood shots.<ref>{{cite news |author=Randy Fox Writer and photographer |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-fox/hollywood-comes-to-the-factory-valleys_b_1307278.html |title='The Deer Hunter' And 'Reckless': Hollywood Briefly Comes To The Factory Valleys (PHOTOS) |work=[[Huffington Post]] |date=May 5, 2012 |access-date=October 17, 2016 |archive-date=February 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205122030/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-fox/hollywood-comes-to-the-factory-valleys_b_1307278.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Struthers, Ohio|Struthers]], Ohio, for external house and long-range road shots. As well, the town's [[bowling alley]] is the Bowladrome Lanes, located at 56 State Street, Struthers, Ohio.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://strutherscommunity.weebly.com/history.html |title=History - Struthers, Ohio |publisher=Strutherscommunity.weebly.com |access-date=October 17, 2016 |archive-date=October 13, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013075048/http://strutherscommunity.weebly.com/history.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/jun/23/memory-lanes/?mobile |title=Youngstown News, Bowladrome Lanes owners reflect on 40 years in the business |publisher=Vindy.com |access-date=October 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013075115/http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/jun/23/memory-lanes/?mobile |archive-date=October 13, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Weirton, West Virginia|Weirton]], West Virginia, for mill and trailer shots.<ref>{{cite news| title="Deer Hunter" Filming Under Way| date=July 5, 1077| first=Joe| last=Sterling| url=http://www.wvculture.org/history/entertainment/deerhunter01.html| work=Weirton Daily Times| publisher=West Virginia Division of Culture and History| access-date=April 26, 2012| archive-date=November 29, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121129035717/http://www.wvculture.org/history/entertainment/deerhunter01.html| url-status=live}}</ref>

===Post-production===
By this point, ''The Deer Hunter'' had cost $13 million, and the film still had to go through an arduous post-production.<ref name=Deeley-178/> Film editor [[Peter Zinner]] was given {{convert|600000|ft|mi km}} of printed film to edit, a monumental task at the time.<ref name=Zinner>{{cite news| title=Peter Zinner, 88; film editor won Oscar for 'The Deer Hunter'| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-16-me-zinner16-story.html| work=[[Los Angeles Times]]| date=November 16, 2007| first=Dennis| last=McLellan| access-date=September 1, 2016| archive-date=March 9, 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309055748/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/16/local/me-zinner16| url-status=live}}</ref> Producers Spikings and Deeley were pleased with the first cut, which ran for three-and-a-half hours. "We were thrilled by what we saw," wrote Deeley, "and knew that within the three and a half hours we watched there was a riveting film."<ref name=Deeley-179>Deeley, p. 179</ref>

Executives from [[Universal Pictures|Universal]], including [[Lew Wasserman]] and [[Sid Sheinberg]], were not very enthusiastic.<ref name=Biskind/><ref name=Deeley-179/> "I think they were shocked," recalled Spikings. "What really upset them was 'God Bless America'. Sheinberg thought it was anti-American. He was vehement. He said something like, 'You're poking a stick in the eye of America.' They really didn't like the movie. And they certainly didn't like it at three hours and two minutes."<ref name=Biskind/>

Deeley was not surprised by Universal's response. He said, "''The Deer Hunter'' was a [[United Artists]] sort of picture, whereas ''Convoy'' was more in the style of Universal. I'd muddled and sold the wrong picture to each studio."<ref name="Deeley-179" /> Deeley did agree with Universal that the film needed to be shorter, not only because of pacing, but also to ensure commercial success.<ref name="Deeley-192">Deeley, p. 192</ref> "A picture under two and a half hours can scrape three shows a day," wrote Deeley, "but at three hours you've lost one third of your screenings and one third of your income for the cinemas, distributors, and profit participants."<ref name="Deeley-192" />

Universal president [[Thom Mount]] said, "This was just a... continuing nightmare from the day Michael finished the picture to the day we released it. That was simply because he was wedded to everything he shot. The movie was endless. It was ''The Deer Hunter and the Hunter and the Hunter''. The wedding sequence was a cinematic event all unto its own."<ref name="Biskind" /> Mount said that he turned to [[Verna Fields]], Universal's head of post-production. "I sicced Verna on Cimino," Mount said. "Verna was no slouch. She started to turn the heat up on Michael, and he started screeching and yelling."<ref name="Biskind" />

Zinner eventually cut the film to {{convert|18000|ft|mi km}}.<ref name="Zinner" /> Cimino soon fired Zinner when he discovered that Zinner was editing the wedding scenes.<ref name="Zsigmond" /><ref name="Deeley-4">Deeley, p. 4</ref> Ironically, Zinner won the Best Editing Oscar for ''The Deer Hunter''. Regarding his clashes with Cimino, Zinner stated, "Michael Cimino and I had our differences at the end, but he kissed me when we both got Academy Awards."<ref name="Zinner" /> Cimino commented in ''[[The New York Observer]]'', "[Zinner] was a moron&nbsp;... I cut ''Deer Hunter'' myself."<ref name="Griffin">{{cite web|url=https://observer.com/2002/02/last-typhoon-cimino-is-back/|title=Last Typhoon Cimino Is Back|last=Griffin|first=Nancy|date=February 10, 2002|work=[[The New York Observer]]|access-date=December 10, 2022|archive-date=December 10, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210140249/https://observer.com/2002/02/last-typhoon-cimino-is-back/|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Sound design====
''The Deer Hunter'' was Cimino's first film to use the [[Dolby noise-reduction system]]. "What Dolby does," replied Cimino, "is to give you the ability to create a ''density of detail'' of sound—a richness so you can demolish the wall separating the viewer from the film. You can come close to demolishing the screen." It took five months to mix the [[soundtrack]]. One short battle sequence—200 feet of film in the final cut—took five days to dub. Another sequence recreated the 1975 American evacuation of Saigon; Cimino brought the film's composer Stanley Myers to the location to listen to the auto, tank and jeep horns while the sequence was being photographed. The result, according to Cimino: Myers composed the music for that scene in the same key as the horn sounds, so that the music and the sound effects would blend with the images to create one jarring, desolate experience.<ref>{{Cite book|page=351 |title=Film Sound: Theory and Practice |chapter=Altman, Dolby, and the Second Sound Revolution |edition=Paperback |editor1=Belton, John |editor2=Weis, Elisabeth |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York, NY |date=April 15, 1985 |isbn=0-231-05637-0 |first=Charles |last=Schreger }}<!-- PN1995.7.F53 1985 is this the LCCN for Film Sound? --></ref>

====Previews====
Both the long and short versions of the movie were previewed to [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern]] audiences, although there are differing accounts among Cimino, Deeley and Spikings regarding how the previews panned out.<ref name=Biskind/> Director Cimino claimed that he bribed the projectionist to interrupt the shorter version to obtain better reviews of the longer one.<ref name=Realizing/> According to producer Spikings, Wasserman let EMI's CEO [[Bernard Delfont]] decide between the two, and he chose Cimino's longer cut.<ref name=Biskind/> Deeley claimed that the tested two-and-a-half-hour version had a better response.<ref name=Deeley-193>Deeley, p. 193</ref>

==Soundtrack==
{{Infobox album
| name       = The Deer Hunter
| type       = soundtrack
| artist     = [[Stanley Myers]]
| cover      =
| alt        =
| released   = 1990
| recorded   = 1978
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Film score]]
| length     =
| label      = Capitol
| producer   =
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title =
| next_year  =
}}

The soundtrack to ''The Deer Hunter'' was released on [[Compact disc|CD]] on October 25, 1990.<ref name=Soundtrack>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000DR9S "''The Deer Hunter'': Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427013023/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000DR9S |date=April 27, 2021 }}. Amazon.com. Retrieved December 25, 2010.</ref>

===Selected tracks===
* [[Stanley Myers]]'s "[[Cavatina (Myers)|Cavatina]]" (also known as "He Was Beautiful"), performed by classical guitarist [[John Williams (guitarist)|John Williams]], is commonly known as "The Theme from The Deer Hunter". According to producer Deeley, he discovered that the piece was originally written for a film called ''[[The Walking Stick]]'' (1970) and, as a result, had to pay the original purchaser an undisclosed sum.<ref name=Deeley-195>Deeley, p. 195</ref>
* "[[Can't Take My Eyes Off You]]", a 1967 hit song sung by [[Frankie Valli]].{{efn|While featured prominently in the film, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" does not appear on ''The Deer Hunter<nowiki>'</nowiki>s'' soundtrack.<ref name=Soundtrack/>}} It is played in John's bar when all of the friends sing along and at the wedding reception. According to Cimino, the actors sang along to a recording of the song as it was played instead of singing to a beat track, a standard filmmaking practice. Cimino felt that it would make the singalong seem more realistic.<ref name=DirCommentary/>
*During the wedding ceremonies and party, the [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodox]] song "Slava", and the Russian folk songs "[[Korobushka]]" and "[[Katyusha (song)|Katyusha]]" are played.
*The final passage from ''[[Kamarinskaya]]'' by [[Mikhail Glinka]] is briefly heard when the men are driving through the mountains. Part of the opening section of the same work is heard during the second hunt when Michael is about to shoot the stag.
*Russian Orthodox funeral music is also employed during Nick's funeral scene, mainly "[[Vechnaya Pamyat]]", which means "eternal memory".<ref>[https://www.dartmouth.edu/~karamazov/resources/?page_id=446 "An Eastern Orthodox Approach to the Brothers Karamazov by Donald Sheehan"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140926073428/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~karamazov/resources/?page_id=446 |date=September 26, 2014 }}. Dartmouth.edu. Retrieved May 23, 2015.</ref>
*In the scene before the film shifts to Vietnam, John plays [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]]'s "[[Nocturnes, Op. 15 (Chopin)|Nocturne in G Minor]]" on the bar piano as the others listen in silence. George Dzundza appears to be actually playing it.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

==Theatrical release==

The producer [[Allan Carr]] took control of the movie's marketing and convinced the studio to allow the film to be played on the [[Z Channel]] before theatrical release.<ref name="afi/MC/dH">{{cite web |title=AFI Movie Club: THE DEER HUNTER |url=https://www.afi.com/news/afi-movie-club-the-deer-hunter/ |website=[[American Film Institute]] |access-date=13 September 2024 |language=en |date=13 September 2024}}</ref>

''The Deer Hunter'' debuted at one theater in [[New York City|New York]] and one in [[Los Angeles]] for a week on December 8, 1978.<ref name=Biskind/><ref name=Bach-166>Bach, p. 166</ref> The release strategy was to qualify the film for [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] consideration and close after a week to build interest.<ref name=Deeley-196/><ref name="afi/MC/dH"/>

After the Oscar nominations, Universal widened the distribution to include major cities, building up to a full-scale release on February 23, 1979, after the previous year's Oscars.<ref name=Deeley-196/> ''The Deer Hunter'' pioneered a new release pattern for so-called prestige pictures that screen only at the end of the year to qualify for Academy Award recognition.<ref>Chaffin-Quiray, Garrett (writer); Schnider, Steven Jay (general editor) (2003). ''1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die'' (2003 ed.). London, England: Quintet Publishing. p. 642. {{ISBN|0-7641-5701-9}}.</ref> The film eventually grossed $48.9 million at the US box office.<ref name=BOM/>

[[CBS]] paid $3.5 million for three runs of the film. The network later canceled the acquisition on the contractually permitted grounds of the film containing too much violence for US network transmission;<ref name=Deeley-181>Deeley, p. 181</ref> the Russian-roulette scene was deemed controversial.<ref name="afi/MC/dH"/>

==Home media==
''The Deer Hunter'' has been released on [[DVD]] twice in the US. The first 1998 issue was by Universal, with no extra features and a non-[[anamorphic]] transfer, and has been discontinued.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077416/dvd "''The Deer Hunter'' (1978)—DVD details"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005133422/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077416/dvd |date=October 5, 2009 }}. IMDb. Retrieved August 12, 2010.</ref> A second version, part of the "Legacy Series", was released as a two-disc set on September 6, 2005, with an anamorphic transfer of the film. The set features a cinematographer's commentary by Vilmos Zsigmond, as well as deleted and extended scenes and production notes.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AABCU2/ "''The Deer Hunter'' (Universal Legacy Series)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427013106/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AABCU2/ |date=April 27, 2021 }}. Amazon.com. Retrieved August 12, 2010.</ref>

The [[DVD region code#2|Region 2]] release of ''The Deer Hunter'', released in the UK and Japan, features a [[commentary track]] from director Michael Cimino.<ref>[http://www.dvdcompare.net/forums/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=25999 "View topic—''The Deer Hunter'' (DVD vs. BD — Scandinavia) ADDED"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717141204/http://www.dvdcompare.net/forums/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=25999 |date=July 17, 2011 }}. The Rewind Forums. Retrieved September 18, 2010.</ref>

The film was released on [[HD DVD]] on December 26, 2006.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000K7VHUA "''The Deer Hunter'' HD-DVD"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427013129/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000K7VHUA |date=April 27, 2021 }}. Amazon.com. Retrieved May 18, 2010.</ref>

[[StudioCanal]] released the film on the [[Blu-ray Disc|Blu-ray]] format in countries other than the United States on March 11, 2009.<ref>[https://archive.today/20130203050231/http://www.studiocanaldvd.com/fr/produit_6_scv_53855_acheter_Blu-Ray_Voyage_au_bout_de_l'enfer_en_stock.php "Achetez le Blu-Ray ''Voyage au bout de l'enfer''"] (in French). StudioCanal.com. Retrieved December 17, 2011.</ref> It was released on Blu-ray in the U.S. on March 6, 2012.<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006TTC5DQ "''The Deer Hunter'' Blu-ray"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427013053/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006TTC5DQ |date=April 27, 2021 }}. Amazon.com. Retrieved March 9, 2012.</ref>

On May 26, 2020, [[Shout! Factory]] released the film on [[Ultra HD Blu-ray]] featuring a new [[Dolby Vision]] transfer.<ref>{{Citation|title=The Deer Hunter 4K Blu-ray Release Date May 26, 2020|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Deer-Hunter-4K-Blu-ray/263121/|access-date=May 17, 2020|archive-date=June 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200604010633/https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Deer-Hunter-4K-Blu-ray/263121/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Analysis==

===Controversy over Russian roulette===
{{multiple image
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| image1            = The Deer Hunter - De Niro Russian Roulette.png
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| caption1          = Robert De Niro pulls the trigger in the game of Russian roulette that takes place in the Viet Cong prison scene.
}}

One of the most talked-about sequences in the film, the Viet Cong's use of Russian roulette with [[Prisoner of war|POWs]] was criticized as being contrived and unrealistic because there were no documented cases of Russian roulette in the Vietnam War.<ref name=Biskind/><ref name=Dirks>Dirks, Tim. [http://www.filmsite.org/deer.html "''The Deer Hunter'' (1978)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723184108/http://www.filmsite.org/deer.html |date=July 23, 2010 }}. Greatest Films. Retrieved May 26, 2010.</ref><ref name=70s>Auster, Albert; Quart, Leonard (2002). "The seventies". ''American film and society since 1945''. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 120–1. {{ISBN|978-0-275-96742-0}}.</ref> [[Associated Press]] reporter [[Peter Arnett]], who won a [[Pulitzer Prize]] for his coverage of the war, wrote in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', "In its 20 years of war, there was not a single recorded case of Russian roulette&nbsp;... The central metaphor of the movie is simply a bloody lie."<ref name=Biskind/>

Cimino countered that his film was not political, polemical, literally accurate, nor posturing for any particular point of view.<ref name=Dirks/> Nevertheless, he also claimed that he had news clippings from [[Singapore]] that confirmed that Russian roulette was used during the war, without specifying which article.<ref name=Realizing/>

====Critics' response====
In his review, [[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' defended the artistic license of Russian roulette, arguing, "It is the organizing symbol of the film. Anything you can believe about the game, about its deliberately random violence, about how it touches the sanity of men forced to play it, will apply to the war as a whole. It is a brilliant symbol because, in the context of this story, it makes any ideological statement about the war superfluous."<ref name=Ebert/>

Film critic and biographer [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] also agreed that the film works despite the controversy. "There were complaints that the North Vietnamese had not employed Russian roulette. It was said that the scenes in Saigon were fanciful or imagined. It was also suggested that De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage were too old to have enlisted for Vietnam (Savage, the youngest of the three, was thirty). Three decades later [written in 2008], 'imagination' seems to have stilled those worries&nbsp;... and ''The Deer Hunter'' is one of the great American films."<ref>Thomson, David (October 14, 2008). ''"Have You Seen&nbsp;... ?": A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films''. New York, NY: Random House. p. 209. {{ISBN|978-0-307-26461-9}}.</ref>

In her review, [[Pauline Kael]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote, ''The Deer Hunter''  is the newest version of the "American 'gentleman' of the wilderness" and "the fullest screen treatment so far of the mystic bond of male comradeship." She goes on to say "The Vietcong [''sic''] are treated in the standard inscrutable-evil Oriental style of the Japanese in the Second World War movies&nbsp;... The impression a viewer gets is that if we did some bad things there we did them ruthlessly but impersonally; the Vietcong were cruel and sadistic."<ref name=Biskind/>

Critic [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] of the ''[[Chicago Reader]]'' disliked the film: "A disgusting account of what the evil Vietnamese did to poor, innocent Americans stands at the center of this Oscar-laden weepie." He thought the cast was "uniformly good", yet "the male self-pity is so overwhelming that you’ll probably stagger out of this mumbling something about [[Leo Tolstoy|Tolstoy]] if you aren’t as nauseated as I was."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Deer Hunter |work=Chicago Reader|date=October 9, 2003|first=Jonathan|last=Rosenbaum|author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum|url=https://chicagoreader.com/film-tv/the-deer-hunter-2/|access-date=July 17, 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250119163559/https://chicagoreader.com/film-tv/the-deer-hunter-2/|archive-date=January 19, 2025}}</ref>

In his ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' article "The Vietnam Oscars", [[Peter Biskind]] wrote that the political agenda of ''The Deer Hunter'' was something of a mystery. "It may have been more a by-product of Hollywood myopia, the demands of the war-film genre, garden-variety American parochialism, and simple ignorance than it was the pre-meditated right-wing road map it seemed to many."<ref name=Biskind/>

====Cast and crew response====
According to Christopher Walken, the historical context was not paramount. "In the making of it, I don't remember anyone ever mentioning Vietnam!" De Niro added to this sentiment. "Whether [the film's vision of the war] actually happened or not, it's something you could imagine very easily happening. Maybe it did. I don't know. All's fair in love and war." Producer Spikings, while proud of the film, regrets the way the Vietnamese are portrayed. "I don't think any of us meant it to be exploitive," Spikings said. "But I think we were&nbsp;... ignorant. I can't think of a better word for it. I didn't realize how badly we'd behaved to the Vietnamese people&nbsp;..."<ref name=Biskind/>

Producer Deeley, on the other hand, was quick to defend Cimino's comments on the nature and motives of the film. "''The Deer Hunter'' wasn't really 'about' Vietnam. It was something very different. It wasn't about drugs or the collapse of the morale of the soldiers. It was about how individuals respond to pressure: different men reacting quite differently. The film was about three steel workers in extraordinary circumstances. ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' is surreal. ''The Deer Hunter'' is a parable&nbsp;... Men who fight and lose an unworthy war, face some obvious and unpalatable choices. They can blame their leaders... or they can blame themselves. Self-blame has been a great burden for many war veterans. So how does a soldier come to terms with his defeat and yet still retain his self-respect? One way is to present the conquering enemy as so inhuman, and the battle between the good guys (us) and the bad guys (them) so uneven, as to render defeat irrelevant. Inhumanity was the theme of ''The Deer Hunter<nowiki>'</nowiki>s'' portrayal of the North Vietnamese prison guards forcing American POWs to play Russian roulette. The audience's sympathy with prisoners who (quite understandably) cracked thus completes the chain. Accordingly, some veterans who suffered in that war found the Russian roulette a valid allegory."<ref name=Deeley-198>Deeley, p. 198</ref>

===Director Cimino's autobiographical intent===
Cimino frequently referred to ''The Deer Hunter'' as a "personal" and "autobiographical" film, although subsequent investigation by journalists like Tom Buckley of ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'' revealed inaccuracies in Cimino's accounts and reported background.<ref name=Deeley-197/>

===Male friendship ===
''[[American Film Institute|AFI]]''{{'}}s Movie Club says, "The film portrays male friendship in an atypical way for the time," and asks, "How does the friendship of the characters played by Robert De Niro, John Savage, Christopher Walken and John Cazale evolve throughout the film?"<ref name="afi/MC/dH"/>

===Coda of "God Bless America"===
The final scene in which all the main characters gather and sing "[[God Bless America]]" became a subject of heated debate among critics when the film was released. It raised the question of whether this conclusion was meant ironically or not—"as a critique of patriotism or a paean to it".<ref name=Biskind/> Cimino later spoke of his intentions for the scene:

<blockquote>The ending is really, not meant to be so much a statement of [[patriotism]], but a statement of communion. When people are in trouble, as they are when they're very troubled and sick inside, spiritually very sick, they need, sometimes to do something together. In this case it's make a sound. And they sing that song because it's a song that every American child knows by heart, because you're taught it in school. Everybody knows the words of "God Bless America", and so it's a communal sound, and they begin to sing the one song they all know from [[Primary school|grade school]] on. And you never forget those words as long as you live. And so they sing... the one song they happen to know happens to be "God Bless America", and it reunites them as a family. It becomes a family communion. Instead of a [[Last Supper]], it becomes a first breakfast, if you will, of a new family. It is breakfast that they're eating. It's not the Last Supper, it's the first breakfast.<ref>{{cite web |title=Michael Cimino: I'm probably not so different than Visconti or Ford (2007) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjV5U7W8X6E |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=August 1, 2023 |date=August 18, 2022 |archive-date=August 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230802141555/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjV5U7W8X6E |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

==Reception==
===Critical response===
On its release, ''The Deer Hunter'' received acclaim from critics, who considered it the best American epic since [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s ''[[The Godfather]]''.<ref name=S&E-Oscar>Ebert, Roger & Siskel, Gene (hosts); Flaum, Thea & Solley, Ray (producers); Denny, Patterson (director). (1979). ''Sneak Previews: Oscar Preview for 1978''. [Television Production]. Chicago, IL: [[WTTW]].</ref><ref name=Deeley-197>Deeley, p. 197</ref><ref name=Canby78/> The film was praised for its depiction of realistic working-class settings and environment; Cimino's direction; the performances of De Niro, Walken, Streep, Savage, Dzundza and Cazale; the symphonic shifts of tone and pacing in moving from America to Vietnam; the tension during the Russian-roulette scenes; and the themes of American disillusionment.<ref name=Thomson-178>{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=David|date=October 26, 2010|title=The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expanded (Hardcover ed.)|publisher=[[Alfred A. Knopf]]|pages=178|isbn=978-0-307-27174-7}}</ref>

The film holds an approval rating of 86% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 130 reviews, with an average score of 8.60/10. The consensus reads: "Its greatness is blunted by its length and one-sided point of view, but the film's weaknesses are overpowered by Michael Cimino's sympathetic direction and a series of heartbreaking performances from Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken".<ref name="Rotten">{{cite web |title=The Deer Hunter (1978) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deer_hunter |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809013724/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deer_hunter |archive-date=August 9, 2020 |access-date=March 31, 2025 |work=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a [[weighted average]] score of 90 out of 100 based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{Citation |title=The Deer Hunter (1978) |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-deer-hunter |language=en |access-date=March 28, 2024 |archive-date=June 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617162043/http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-deer-hunter |url-status=live}}</ref>

Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four, and called it "one of the most emotionally shattering films ever made".<ref name="Ebert">{{cite web| url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19790309/REVIEWS/903090301/1023 |title=The Deer Hunter|last=Ebert|first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert|date=March 9, 1979|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|publisher=[[RogerEbert.com]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121151124/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19790309/REVIEWS/903090301/1023 |archive-date=January 21, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Gene Siskel]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' praised the film, saying, "This is a big film, dealing with big issues, made on a grand scale. Much of it, including some casting decisions, suggest inspiration by ''The Godfather''."<ref>Siskel, Gene (March 9, 1979). "''The Deer Hunter''". ''Chicago Tribune''.</ref>

[[Leonard Maltin]] also gave the film four stars, calling it a "sensitive, painful, evocative work".<ref>{{cite book|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|date=August 2008|title=Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide| publisher=[[Penguin Group|New York, NY: Penguin Group]] |pages=338|isbn=978-0-452-28978-9}}</ref>

[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called ''The Deer Hunter'' "a big, awkward, crazily ambitious motion picture that comes as close to being a popular epic as any movie about this country since ''The Godfather''. Its vision is that of an original, major new filmmaker."<ref name="Canby78">{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9F00E1DB1E30E632A25756C1A9649D946990D6CF |title=Movie Review: The Deer Hunter (1978)|first=Canby|last=Vincent|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=December 15, 1978|work=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216105742/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=2&res=9F00E1DB1E30E632A25756C1A9649D946990D6CF |archive-date=February 16, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[David Denby (film critic)|David Denby]] of ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine called it "an epic", with "qualities that we almost never see any more—range and power and breadth of experience."<ref name="Bach-167">Bach, p. 167</ref><ref name="Bach-168" />

[[Jack Kroll]] of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' asserted that it put director Cimino "right at the center of film culture".<ref name="Bach-168">Bach, p. 168</ref>

Stephen Farber pronounced in ''New West'' magazine that the movie is "the greatest anti-war movie since ''[[La Grande Illusion]]''."<ref name="Bach-168" />

However, ''The Deer Hunter'' was not without critical backlash. [[Pauline Kael]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote a positive review with some reservations: "[It is] a small minded film with greatness in it&nbsp;... with an enraptured view of common life&nbsp;... [but] enraging, because, despite its ambitiousness and scale, it has no more moral intelligence than the [[Clint Eastwood|Eastwood]] action pictures."<ref name="Bach-168" />

[[William Goldman]], in his book ''[[Adventures in the Screen Trade]]'', described ''The Deer Hunter'' as a "well-disguised comic-book movie". He wrote, "I enjoyed it every bit as I used to be enthralled by [[Batman]] having it out with [[Penguin (character)|the Penguin]]—and precisely on that level."<ref>{{cite book|first=Goldman|year=1983|last=Goldman|title=Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting|location=New York|publisher=Warner Books|page=154|isbn=0446512737}}</ref>

[[Andrew Sarris]] of ''[[The New York Observer]]'' wrote that the film was "massively vague, tediously elliptical, and mysteriously hysterical&nbsp;... It is perhaps significant that the actors remain more interesting than the characters they play."<ref name="Biskind"/>

[[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]] of ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' wrote, "For all its pretensions to something newer and better, this film is only an extension of the old Hollywood war-movie lie. The enemy is still bestial and stupid, and no match for our purity and heroism; only we no longer wipe up the floor with him—rather, we litter it with his guts."<ref>Simon, John (February 16, 1979). ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]''. Anthologized in the collection ''Reverse Angle'' (1982).</ref>

In a review for ''[[Chicago (magazine)|Chicago]]'' magazine, [[Studs Terkel]] wrote that he was "appalled by its shameless dishonesty", and that "not since ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]'' has a non-Caucasian people been portrayed in so barbaric a fashion". Cimino's dishonesty "was to project a sadistic psyche not only onto 'Charlie' but to all the Vietnamese portrayed".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Terkel|first=Studs|title=The spectator : talk about movies and plays with the people who make them|date=1999|publisher=The New Press|isbn=1-56584-553-6|location=New York|oclc=40683723}}</ref>

Author [[Karina Longworth]] notes that Streep "made a case for female empowerment by playing a woman to whom empowerment was a foreign concept—a normal lady from an average American small town, for whom subservience was the only thing she knew".{{sfn|Longworth|2013|p=19}} She states that ''The Deer Hunter'' "evokes a version of dominant masculinity in which male friendship is a powerful force". It has a "credibly humanist message", and that the "slow study of the men in blissfully ignorant homeland machismo is crucial to it".{{sfn|Longworth|2013|p=21}}

Despite its critical acclaim and awards, some critics derided what they considered the film's simplistic, bigoted and historically inaccurate depictions of the Viet Cong and America's position in the Vietnam War.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/26/archives/oscarwinning-deer-hunter-is-under-attack-as-racist-film-among-the.html | title=Oscar-Winning 'Deer Hunter' is Under Attack as 'Racist' Film | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=April 26, 1979 | first=Aljean | last=Harmetz | access-date=October 17, 2022 | archive-date=November 4, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104154807/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/26/archives/oscarwinning-deer-hunter-is-under-attack-as-racist-film-among-the.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The central theme of the Viet Cong forcing American captives to play Russian roulette has been widely criticized as having no historical basis, a claim that Cimino denied but did not refute with evidence.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

During the [[29th Berlin International Film Festival]] in 1979, the Soviet delegation expressed its indignation with the film that, in their opinion, insulted the Vietnamese people in numerous scenes.<ref name="Grdn2024">{{cite news |last1=Malcolm |first1=Derek |title=The Deer Hunter reviewed: 'more a romantic melodrama than a realist document' – archive, 1979 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/01/the-deer-hunter-review-derek-malcom-1979 |access-date=4 March 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=1 March 2024}}</ref> Other communist states also voiced their solidarity with the "heroic people of Vietnam". They protested the screening of the film and insisted that it violated the statutes of the festival because in no way does it contribute to the "improvement of mutual understanding between the peoples of the world". The ensuing domino effect led to the walk-outs of the Cubans, East Germans, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Poles and Czechoslovakians, and two members of the jury resigned in sympathy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1979/01_jahresblatt_1979/01_Jahresblatt_1979.html|title=29th Berlin International Film Festival (February 20 - March 3, 1979)|work=[[Berlin International Film Festival]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821141643/http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1979/01_jahresblatt_1979/01_Jahresblatt_1979.html |archive-date=August 21, 2010|url-status=live }}</ref>

===Top-ten lists===
* 3rd—[[Roger Ebert]], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041215/COMMENTARY/41215001/1023 |title=Ebert's 10 Best Lists: 1967-present|last=Ebert|first=Roger|author-link=Robert Ebert|date=December 15, 2004|work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|publisher=[[RogerEbert.com]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908200137/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041215/COMMENTARY/41215001/1023 |archive-date=September 8, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Ebert also placed ''Deer Hunter'' on his list of the best films of the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://siskelandebert.org/video/8RORMWR2Y8ON/Sneak-Previews-Best-of-the-1970s |title=Sneak Previews: Best Films of the 1970s|last1=Ebert|first1= Roger (host)|first2=Siskel|last2= Gene (host) |date=December 20, 1979 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106142733/http://siskelandebert.org/video/8RORMWR2Y8ON/Sneak-Previews-Best-of-the-1970s |archive-date=November 6, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 3rd—[[Gene Siskel]], ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.innermind.com/misc/s_e_top.htm |title=Siskel and Ebert Top Ten Lists (1969–1998)|access-date=October 17, 2022|website=Innermind.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108124328/http://www.innermind.com/misc/s_e_top.htm |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Academy Award for Best Director|Academy Award-winning film director]] [[Miloš Forman]] and [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Academy Award-nominated actor]] [[Mickey Rourke]] consider ''The Deer Hunter'' to be one of the greatest films of all time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/voter.php?forename=Milos&surname=Forman|title=Top Ten Poll 2002—Milos Forman|work=[[British Film Institute]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100813143839/http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/poll/voter.php?forename=Milos&surname=Forman |archive-date=August 13, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>''Presentation of the film by Mickey Rourke''. Video located on ''The Deer Hunter'' Blu-ray.</ref>

===Revisionism following ''Heaven's Gate''===
Cimino's next film, ''[[Heaven's Gate (film)|Heaven's Gate]]'' (1980), debuted to lacerating reviews and took in only $3 million in ticket sales, effectively leaving United Artists bankrupt. The failure of ''Heaven's Gate'' led several critics to revise their positions on ''The Deer Hunter''. Canby said in his famous review of ''Heaven's Gate'', "[The film] fails so completely that you might suspect Mr. Cimino sold his soul to the Devil to obtain the success of ''The Deer Hunter'', and the Devil has just come around to collect."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940CE4D61638F93AA25752C1A966948260 |title='Heaven's Gate,' A Western by Cimino|work=[[The New York Times]]|first=Vincent|last=Canby|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=November 19, 1980|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928083817/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940CE4D61638F93AA25752C1A966948260 |archive-date=September 28, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Andrew Sarris]] wrote in his review of ''Heaven's Gate'', "I'm a little surprised that many of the same critics who lionized Cimino for ''The Deer Hunter'' have now thrown him to the wolves with equal enthusiasm."<ref name="Bach-370" /> Sarris added, "I was never taken in&nbsp;... Hence, the stupidity and incoherence in ''Heaven's Gate'' came as no surprise since very much the same stupidity and incoherence had been amply evident in ''The Deer Hunter''."<ref name="Bach-370" />

In his book ''Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate'', [[Steven Bach]] wrote, "Critics seemed to feel obliged to go on the record about ''The Deer Hunter'', to demonstrate that their critical credentials were un-besmirched by having been, as Andrew Sarris put it, 'taken in'."<ref name="Bach-370">Bach, p. 370</ref>

Film critic [[Mark Kermode]] described ''Deer Hunter'' as "a genuinely terrible film".<ref>{{cite web |title=Mark Kermode |url=https://twitter.com/KermodeMovie/status/1229016205891133442 |website=[[Twitter]] |access-date=September 10, 2020 |archive-date=February 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200216124046/https://twitter.com/KermodeMovie/status/1229016205891133442 |url-status=live }}</ref>

However, many critics, including [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]]<ref name="Thomson-178" /> and [[A. O. Scott]],<ref>{{YouTube|jonkduDdc5k|Critics' Picks: ''The Deer Hunter''}} by ''The New York Times'' film critic A. O. Scott on YouTube.</ref> maintain that ''The Deer Hunter'' is a great film, the power of which has not diminished.

==Awards==
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="width: 23em; font-size: 85%;"
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Academy Awards record
|-
| 1. Best Actor in a Supporting Role, [[Christopher Walken]]
|-
| 2. Best Director, [[Michael Cimino]]
|-
| 3. Best Film Editing, [[Peter Zinner]]
|-
| 4. Best Picture, [[Barry Spikings]], [[Michael Deeley]], [[Michael Cimino]], John Peverall
|-
| 5. Best Sound, Richard Portman, William L. McCaughey, Aaron Rochin, C. Darin Knight
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | Golden Globe Awards record
|-
| 1. Best Director – Motion Picture, Michael Cimino
|- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" | BAFTA Awards record
|-
| 1. Best Film Cinematography, [[Vilmos Zsigmond]]
|-
| 2. Best Film Editing, Peter Zinner
|}

===Lead-up to awards season===
Film producer and "old-fashioned mogul" [[Allan Carr]] used his networking abilities to promote ''The Deer Hunter''. "Exactly how Allan Carr came into ''The Deer Hunter''{{'}}s orbit I can no longer remember," recalled producer Deeley, "but the picture became a crusade to him. He nagged, charmed, threw parties, he created word-of-mouth&nbsp;– everything that could be done in Hollywood to promote a project. Because he had no apparent motive for this promotion, it had an added power and legitimacy and it finally did start to penetrate the minds of the Universal's sales people that they actually had in their hands something a bit more significant than the usual."<ref name=Deeley-195/> Deeley added that Carr's promotion of the film was influential in positioning ''The Deer Hunter'' for Oscar nominations.<ref name=Deeley-196>Deeley, p. 196</ref>

On the ''[[Sneak Previews]]'' special "Oscar Preview for 1978", Roger Ebert correctly predicted that ''The Deer Hunter'' would win for Best Picture, while Gene Siskel predicted that ''[[Coming Home (1978 film)|Coming Home]]'' would win. However, Ebert incorrectly guessed that Robert De Niro would win for Best Actor for ''Deer Hunter'' and [[Jill Clayburgh]] would win for Best Actress for ''[[An Unmarried Woman]]'', while Siskel called the wins for [[Jon Voight]] as Best Actor and [[Jane Fonda]] as Best Actress, both for ''Coming Home''. Both Ebert and Siskel correctly predicted the win for Christopher Walken receiving the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.<ref name=S&E-Oscar/>

According to producer Deeley, orchestrated lobbying against ''The Deer Hunter'' was led by [[Warren Beatty]], whose own picture ''[[Heaven Can Wait (1978 film)|Heaven Can Wait]]'' had multiple nominations.<ref name=Deeley-3>Deeley, p. 3</ref> Beatty also used ex-girlfriends in his campaign: [[Julie Christie]], serving on the jury at the Berlin Film Festival where ''Deer Hunter'' was screened, joined the walkout of the film by the Russian jury members. Jane Fonda also criticized ''The Deer Hunter'' in public. Deeley suggested that her criticisms partly stemmed from the competition between her film ''Coming Home'' vying with ''The Deer Hunter'' for Best Picture. According to Deeley, he planted a friend of his in the Oscar press area behind the stage to ask Fonda if she had seen ''The Deer Hunter''.<ref name=Deeley-4/> Fonda replied she had not seen the film, and to this day she still has not.<ref name=Biskind/><ref name=Deeley-4/>

As the Oscars drew near, the backlash against ''The Deer Hunter'' gathered strength. When the limos pulled up to the [[Dorothy Chandler Pavilion]] on April 9, 1979, they were met by demonstrators, mostly from the Los Angeles chapter of [[Vietnam Veterans Against the War]]. The demonstrators waved placards covered with slogans that read "No Oscars for racism" and "''The Deer Hunter'' a bloody lie", and they thrust pamphlets berating ''Deer Hunter'' into long lines of limousine windows.<ref name=Biskind/><ref name=Deeley-4/> Washburn, nominated for Best Original Screenplay, claimed that his limousine was pelted with stones. According to ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', "Police and ''The Deer Hunter'' protesters clashed in a brief but bloody battle that resulted in 13 arrests."<ref name=Biskind/>

De Niro was so anxious that he did not attend the Oscars ceremony. He asked the Academy to allow him to sit out the show backstage, but when the Academy refused, De Niro stayed home in New York.<ref name=Deeley-1>Deeley, p. 1</ref> Producer Deeley made a deal with fellow producer [[David Puttnam]], whose film ''[[Midnight Express (film)|Midnight Express]]'' was nominated, that each would take $500 to the ceremony so if one of them won, the winner would give the loser the $500 to "drown his sorrows in style".<ref name=Deeley-3/>

===Complete list of awards===
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! {{Abbr|Ref.|References}}
|-
| rowspan="9"| [[51st Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]
| [[Barry Spikings]], [[Michael Deeley]], [[Michael Cimino]] and John Peverall
| {{won}}
| rowspan="9"|<ref name=OscarSite>{{cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1979|title=The 51st Academy Awards - 1979|work=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|date=October 5, 2014 |access-date=October 17, 2022|archive-date=August 15, 2016|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160815132139/http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1979|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Michael Cimino]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| [[Robert De Niro]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| [[Christopher Walken]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| [[Meryl Streep]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Written Directly for the Screen]]
| [[Deric Washburn]], Michael Cimino, [[Louis A. Garfinkle]] and [[Quinn K. Redeker]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| [[Vilmos Zsigmond]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Film Editing|Best Film Editing]]
| [[Peter Zinner]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]]
| [[Richard Portman]], [[William McCaughey]], [[Aaron Rochin]] and [[Darin Knight]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[American Cinema Editors|American Cinema Editors Awards]]
| [[American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic|Best Edited Feature Film]]
| Peter Zinner
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="5"| American Movie Awards
| colspan="2"| Best Film
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="5"| 
|-
| Best Director
| Michael Cimino
| {{won}}
|-
| Best Actor
| Robert De Niro
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Supporting Actor
| Christopher Walken
| {{nom}}
|-
| Best Supporting Actress
| Meryl Streep
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Blue Ribbon Awards]]
| [[Blue Ribbon Awards|Best Foreign Language Film]]
| rowspan="3"| Michael Cimino
| {{won}}
|
|-
| rowspan="9"| [[33rd British Academy Film Awards|British Academy Film Awards]]
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
| {{nom}}
|rowspan="9"|<ref name="BAFTA">{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1980/film|title=Film in 1980|work=[[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]]|access-date=October 17, 2022|archive-date=August 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808051141/http://awards.bafta.org/award/1980/film|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Direction|Best Direction]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role|Best Actor in a Leading Role]]
| Robert De Niro
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|Best Actress in a Leading Role]]
| Meryl Streep
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role|Best Actor in a Supporting Role]]
| Christopher Walken
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay]]
| Deric Washburn
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography]]
| Vilmos Zsigmond
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Editing|Best Editing]]
| Peter Zinner
| {{won}}
|-
| [[BAFTA Award for Best Sound|Best Sound]]
| Darin Knight, Jim Klinger and Richard Portman
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[31st Directors Guild of America Awards|Directors Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Feature Film|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures]]
| Michael Cimino
| {{won}}
|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1970s/1978.aspx?value=1978|title=31st Annual DGA Awards|work=[[Directors Guild of America]]|access-date=October 18, 2022|archive-date=November 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130061308/http://www.dga.org/Awards/History/1970s/1978.aspx?value=1978|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="6"| [[36th Golden Globe Awards|Golden Globe Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama|Best Motion Picture – Drama]]
| {{nom}}
| rowspan="6"|<ref name="GoldenGlobes">{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/1979|title=Winners & Nominees 1979|work=[[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]]|access-date=October 17, 2022|archive-date=January 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180119120713/https://www.goldenglobes.com/winners-nominees/1979|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama|Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama]]
| Robert De Niro
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture]]
| Christopher Walken
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]]
| Meryl Streep
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Director|Best Director – Motion Picture]]
| Michael Cimino
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay|Best Screenplay – Motion Picture]]
| Deric Washburn
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Hochi Film Awards]]
| [[Hochi Film Award|Best International Picture]]
| Michael Cimino
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Japan Academy Film Prize]]
| colspan="2"| [[Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film|Outstanding Foreign Language Film]]
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Kinema Junpo|Kinema Junpo Awards]]
| Best Foreign Director
| Michael Cimino
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1978|Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards]]
| colspan="2"| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| Michael Cimino
| {{won}}
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| Robert De Niro
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| Christopher Walken
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[National Film Preservation Board]]
| [[National Film Registry]]
|''The Deer Hunter''
| {{won|Inducted}}
|<ref name="loc.gov"/>
|-
| rowspan="5"| [[National Society of Film Critics Awards 1978|National Society of Film Critics Awards]]
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
| ''The Deer Hunter''
| {{draw|2nd Place}}{{efn|Tied with ''[[An Unmarried Woman]]''}}
|rowspan="5"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/04/archives/critics-cite-get-out-your-handkerchiefs-a-special-citation.html|title=Critics Cite 'Get Out Your Handkerchiefs'|first=Janet|last=Maslin|date=January 4, 1979|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=October 18, 2022|archive-date=January 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104014046/http://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/04/archives/critics-cite-get-out-your-handkerchiefs-a-special-citation.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| Michael Cimino
| {{draw|3rd Place}}
|-
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| Robert De Niro
| {{draw|5th Place}}
|-
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| Christopher Walken
| {{draw|3rd Place}}
|-
| [[National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Meryl Streep
| {{won}}
|-
| rowspan="4"| [[1978 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|New York Film Critics Circle Awards]]
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film|Best Film]]
|''The Deer Hunter''
| {{won}}
|rowspan="4"|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/21/archives/miss-bergman-jon-voight-and-deer-hunter-cited-wins-on-third-ballot.html|title=Miss Bergman, Jon Voight And 'Deer Hunter' Cited|first=Janet|last=Maslin|date=December 21, 1978|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=October 18, 2022|archive-date=November 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115114535/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/21/archives/miss-bergman-jon-voight-and-deer-hunter-cited-wins-on-third-ballot.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]]
| Robert De Niro
| {{Runner-up}}
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]]
| Christopher Walken
| {{won}}
|-
| [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]]
| Meryl Streep
| {{Runner-up}}
|-
| Online Film & Television Association Awards
| colspan="2"| Hall of Fame – Motion Picture
| {{won}}
|-
| [[31st Writers Guild of America Awards|Writers Guild of America Awards]]
| [[Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay|Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen]]
| Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Louis Garfinkle and Quinn K. Redeker
| {{nom}}
|}

==Legacy==
''The Deer Hunter'' is among the early, and most controversial, major theatrical films to be critical of the American involvement in Vietnam after 1975, when the war officially ended. Although the film opened in the same year as [[Hal Ashby]]'s ''Coming Home'', [[Sidney Furie]]'s ''[[The Boys in Company C]]'', and [[Ted Post]]'s ''[[Go Tell the Spartans]]'', it is the first film about Vietnam to reach a wide audience and critical acclaim, culminating in winning the Oscar for Best Picture. Other films that illustrate the conditions of the Vietnam War combat include:<ref name=Dirks/>

* [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' (1979)
* [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[Platoon (film)|Platoon]]'' (1986)
* [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' (1987)
* [[Brian De Palma]]'s ''[[Casualties of War (film)|Casualties of War]]'' (1989)
* [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[Born on the Fourth of July (film)|Born on the Fourth of July]]'' (1989)

[[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]] wrote in an article titled "''The Deer Hunter'': Story of a scene" that the film changed the way war-time battles were portrayed on film. "The terror and the blast of firepower changed the war film, even if it only used a revolver. More or less before the late 1970s, the movies had lived by a Second World War code in which battle scenes might be fierce but always rigorously controlled. ''The Deer Hunter'' unleashed a new, raw dynamic in combat and action, paving the way for ''[[Platoon (film)|Platoon]]'', ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' and Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima films."<ref>{{cite news| last=Thomson| first=David| date=October 19, 2010| url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/19/deer-hunter-action-scene| title=''The Deer Hunter'': Story of a scene| publisher=Guardian.co.uk| work=[[The Guardian]]| access-date=December 7, 2010| archive-date=January 21, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121115436/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/19/deer-hunter-action-scene| url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 2011 interview with [[Rotten Tomatoes]], actor [[William Fichtner]] stated that he and his partner were silenced after seeing the film, stating that "the human experience was just so pointed; their journeys were so difficult, as life is sometimes. I remember after seeing it, walking down the street—I actually went with a girl on a date and saw ''The Deer Hunter'', and we left the theater and walked for like an hour and nobody said anything; we were just kind of stunned about that."<ref>{{cite web| title=Five Favorite Films with William Fichtner| url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deer_hunter| last=Goodsell| first=Luke| date=February 25, 2011| website=Rotten Tomatoes| access-date=April 28, 2020| archive-date=August 9, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809013724/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/deer_hunter| url-status=live}}</ref>

The deaths of approximately 25 people who died playing Russian roulette were reported as having been influenced by scenes in the movie.<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/deerhunter.asp "''The Deer Hunter'' and Suicides"]. Snopes.com. Retrieved June 12, 2010.</ref>

===Honors and recognition===
In 1996, ''The Deer Hunter'' was selected for preservation in the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref name="loc.gov">[https://www.loc.gov/film/nfrchron.html "Films Selected to The National Film Registry 1989–2008"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501155016/http://www.loc.gov/film/nfrchron.html |date=May 1, 2008 }}. Library of Congress. Retrieved June 11, 2010.</ref>

[[American Film Institute]] included the film as #79 in [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies]],<ref>[http://www.afi.com/100Years/movies.aspx "AFI's 100 Years&nbsp;... 100 Movies"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022154546/http://www.afi.com/100Years/movies.aspx |date=October 22, 2013 }}. American Film Institute. "79. ''The Deer Hunter'' 1978". Retrieved December 25, 2010.</ref> #30 in [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills]],<ref>[http://www.afi.com/100Years/thrills.aspx "AFI's 100 Years&nbsp;... 100 Thrills"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611142759/http://www.afi.com/100Years/thrills.aspx |date=June 11, 2016 }}. American Film Institute. "30. ''The Deer Hunter'' 1978". Retrieved December 25, 2010.</ref> and #53 in [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)]].<ref>[http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx "AFI'S 100 Years&nbsp;... 100 Movies—10th Anniversary Edition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150818175815/http://www.afi.com/100Years/movies10.aspx |date=August 18, 2015 }}. American Film Institute. "53. ''The Deer Hunter'' 1978". Retrieved September 18, 2010.</ref>

The film ranks 467th in the ''[[Empire (magazine)|Empire]]'' magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time,<ref name=Empire/> noting:

<blockquote>Cimino's bold, powerful 'Nam epic goes from blue-collar macho rituals to a fiery, South East Asian hell and back to a ragged singalong of ''[[America the Beautiful]]'' [sic]. De Niro holds it together, but Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep and John Savage are unforgettable.<ref name=Empire>[https://www.empireonline.com/500/7.asp "The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016122538/http://www.empireonline.com/500/7.asp |date=October 16, 2015 }}. ''Empire''. Retrieved 2010-06-02.</ref></blockquote>

''[[The New York Times]]'' placed the film on its "Best 1000 Movies Ever" list.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080612032429/https://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/1000best.html The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.] ''[[The New York Times]]'' via [[Internet Archive]]. Published April 29, 2003. Retrieved June 12, 2008.</ref>

[[Jan Scruggs]], a Vietnam veteran who became a counselor with the [[U.S. Department of Labor]], thought of the idea of building a [[Vietnam Veterans Memorial|National Memorial for Vietnam Veterans]] after seeing a screening of the film in March 1979, and he established and operated the memorial fund that paid for it.<ref>Scruggs, Jan C.; Swerdlow, Joel L. (April 1985). ''To Heal a Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial''. New York, NY: Harpercollins. p. 7. {{ISBN|978-0-06-015404-2}}.</ref> Director Cimino was invited to the memorial's opening.<ref name=Realizing/>

==See also==
* [[The Deer Hunter (novel)|''The Deer Hunter'' (novel)]] (1978)
* ''[[The Last Hunter]]'' (1980), an Italian film originally made as an unofficial sequel

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Steven Bach|Bach, Steven]] (September 1, 1999). ''Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists'' (Updated 1999 ed.). New York, NY: Newmarket Press. {{ISBN|1-55704-374-4}}.
* [[Michael Deeley|Deeley, Michael]] (April 7, 2009). ''Blade Runners, Deer Hunters, & Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies'' (Hardcover ed.). New York, NY: Pegasus Books. {{ISBN|978-1-60598-038-6}}.
* {{Cite book|last=Kachmar |first=Diane C. |title=Roy Scheider: a film biography |publisher=McFarland |year=2002 |isbn=0-7864-1201-1 }}
*{{cite book|last=Longworth|first=Karina|title=Meryl Streep: Anatomy of an Actor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJv1mwEACAAJ|date=2013|publisher=Phaidon Press|isbn=978-0-7148-6669-7}}
* Parker, John (2009). ''Robert De Niro: Portrait of a Legend''. London, England: John Blake Publishing {{ISBN|978-1-84454-639-8}}.
* McKee, Bruce (1997). ''Story'' (Hardcover ed.). New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. pp.&nbsp;126, 296-7, 308. {{ISBN|0-06-039168-5}}.
* Mitchell, Robert (writer); Magill, Frank N. (editor) (1980). "''The Deer Hunter''". ''Magill's Survey of Cinema: A-Eas''. '''1'''. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Salem Press pp.&nbsp;427–431. {{ISBN|0-89356-226-2}}.
* Raimondi, Antonio; Raimondi, Rocco. (2021) "Robert De Niro and the Vietnam War". Italy. {{ISBN|979-8590066575}}.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Deer-Hunter The Deer Hunter] at [[britannica.com]]

'''Interviews'''
* {{YouTube|Z6SzHkCmDTQ|Michael Cimino on 'The Deer Hunter' (1978) #01}}
* {{YouTube|yo_90HKkAas|Michael Cimino on 'The Deer Hunter' (1978) #02}}

'''Texts'''
* [https://www.scripts.com/script/the_deer_hunter_846 Original script] ([https://www.scripts.com/script-pdf-body.php?id=846 PDF]) at Scripts.com
:::In which Michael is called Merle and stays in Saigon while Nick returns to Linda.
* [https://kino.caretas.club/movie/the-deer-hunter-1978-11778 Film dialogs] (English, Spanish, Portuguese) at Kino

'''Metadata'''
* [https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/55192 The Deer Hunter] at [[AFI Catalog]] - [[American Film Institute]]
* {{TCMDb title|420324}}
* {{IMDb title|77416}}
* {{mojo title|deerhunter}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|deer_hunter}}
* {{Metacritic film}}

{{Michael Cimino}}
{{Navboxes
| title = Awards for ''The Deer Hunter''
| list =
{{AcademyAwardBestPicture 1961–1980}}
{{Blue Ribbon Award for Best Foreign Film}}
{{Japan Academy Film Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deer Hunter}}
[[Category:1970s war drama films]]
[[Category:1970s American films]]
[[Category:1978 drama films]]
[[Category:American war drama films]]
[[Category:Anti-war films about the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Best Picture Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Cockfighting in film]]
[[Category:EMI Films films]]
[[Category:Films about hunting]]
[[Category:Films about post-traumatic stress disorder]]
[[Category:Films about veterans]]
[[Category:Films directed by Michael Cimino]]
[[Category:Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award–winning performance]]
[[Category:Films scored by Stanley Myers]]
[[Category:Films set in 1967]]
[[Category:Films set in 1968]]
[[Category:Films set in 1975]]
[[Category:Films set in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Films set in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Films set in Saigon]]
[[Category:Films shot in Bangkok]]
[[Category:Films shot in Cleveland]]
[[Category:Films shot in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Films shot in Thailand]]
[[Category:Films shot in Washington (state)]]
[[Category:Films shot in West Virginia]]
[[Category:Films shot in Youngstown, Ohio]]
[[Category:Films that won the Best Sound Mixing Academy Award]]
[[Category:Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award]]
[[Category:Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe]]
[[Category:Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award]]
[[Category:1970s French-language films]]
[[Category:1970s Russian-language films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
[[Category:Vietnam War prisoner of war films]]
[[Category:Vietnamese-language films]]
[[Category:American war epic films]]
[[Category:Russian-American culture]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1978 multilingual films]]
[[Category:American multilingual films]]
[[Category:English-language war drama films]]
[[Category:French-language American films]]